CWC Award of Excellence Finalist

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I’m thrilled that my short story, “Chuck Berry Is Missing,” part of my Estelle Martin series, is a finalist for a Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence, in the novella category. It was published in the July/August 2024 issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. I am in excellent company in my category:

Best Crime Novella
Marcelle Dubé, Chuck Berry is Missing, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine
Liz Ireland, Mrs. Claus and the Candy Corn Caper, Kensington
Pamela Jones, The Windmill Mystery, Austin Macauley Publishers
A.J. McCarthy, A Rock, Black Rose Writing
Twist Phelan, Aim, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

I’ve won the CWC Award of Excellence twice, in 2021 and 2024, for my short stories, “Cold Wave” and “Reversion.”

To see the rest of the shortlists in all categories, here is the CWC news release.

A few Christmas short stories

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I have four Christmas shorts–romantic ones at that–to offer:

And one compilation of three of my short Christmas stories (Running Away from Christmas, McKell’s Christmas, and A Yukon Christmas):

And here are the links:

Running Away from Christmas: https://books2read.com/u/b6Z7LZ

McKell’s Christmas: https://books2read.com/u/brWJ8w

A Yukon Christmas: https://books2read.com/u/bPdDrb

Trepalli’s Christmas: https://books2read.com/u/m2vDp7

Christmas Magic (compilation): https://books2read.com/u/mVA2p3

Plot Twist Festival

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Just in time for the holiday reading season: The Plot Twist Festival.

Fifteen authors, including me, are offering free short stories, novel excerpts, and/or special content. Sign up for one (or all) our newsletters and you will be sent up to 15 gifts. A great chance to discover new authors! But hurry–this promo ends on November 28!

If you’re not familiar with what I write, go here https://halfdanpress.com/808-2/plot-twist-festival/ and sign up for my newsletter. You’ll get opening chapters of four of my novels plus a complete award-winning short story:

  1. The Shoeless Kid – Book 1 of the Mendenhall Mystery series
  2. Identity Withheld
  3. The A’lle Murders – Book 1 of the A’lle Chronicles
  4. Kirwan’s Son
  5. “Cold Wave” – Winner of the 2021 Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence

 I hope these will give you a sense of my writing style and interests.

The Saturday Evening Post

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Cover ©SEPS

My short story, “Sky Lanterns,” is in the November/December 2024 print edition of The Saturday Evening Post. In “Sky Lanterns,” a world-weary journalist returns home to give her sister one last gift. The story will also appear for free on their website on December 20, in honour of the Solstice.

The Saturday Evening Post has been part of my life since childhood. I’m very proud to have a story in it.